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Xiangning County ( simplified Chinese : 乡宁县 ; traditional Chinese : 鄉寧縣 ; pinyin : Xiāngníng Xiàn ; lit. 'countryside peace') is a county in the southwest of Shanxi province, China , bordering Shaanxi province across the Yellow River to the west. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Linfen . The county spans an area of 2,029 square kilometres (783 sq mi), and is home to a population of 240,000 people as of 2013.

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70-697: During the Spring and Autumn period , Marquis E of Jin lived in what is now present-day Xiangning County. In the Warring States period, the area had been occupied by both the Han and Zhao states. During the Northern Wei Dynasty , the area was initially named Changping ( Chinese : 昌平 ), and was later changed to Pingchang ( Chinese : 平昌 ). Eventually, the name was changed to Changning ( simplified Chinese : 昌宁 ; traditional Chinese : 昌寧 ), but in 923

140-769: A synonym of Eleutherococcus trifoliatus . The once separate genus Fagara is now included in Zanthoxylum . 28 fossil seeds of the extinct Zanthoxylum kristinae , from the early Miocene , have been found in the Kristina Mine at Hrádek nad Nisou in North Bohemia , the Czech Republic. Many Zanthoxylum species make excellent bonsai and in temperate climates they can be grown quite well indoors. Zanthoxylum beecheyanum and Zanthoxylum piperitum are two species commonly grown as bonsai . Spices are made from

210-555: A few large and powerful principalities dominated China. Some southern states, such as Chu and Wu , claimed independence from the Zhou, who undertook wars against some of them (Wu and Yue ). Amid the interstate power struggles, internal conflict was also rife: six elite landholding families waged war on each other inside Jin, political enemies set about eliminating the Chen family in Qi, and the legitimacy of

280-401: A neighbour of Wu and Jin's nemesis in the struggle for hegemony. King Shoumeng accepted the offer, and Wu would continue to harass Chu for years to come. After a period of increasingly exhausting warfare, Qi, Qin, Jin and Chu met at a disarmament conference in 579 and agreed to declare a truce to limit their military strength. This peace did not last very long and it soon became apparent that

350-616: A number of species in this genus, including: In Indonesia 's North Sumatra province, Zanthoxylum acanthopodium is harvested for andaliman . In Indonesian Batak cuisine, andaliman is ground and mixed with chilies and seasonings into a green sambal or chili paste. Arsik is a typical Indonesian dish containing andaliman . Zanthoxylum piperitum is harvested in Japan and Korea to produce sanshō ( 山椒 ) or chopi ( 초피 ), which has numbing properties similar to those of Chinese Sichuan peppercorns. In Korean cuisine, chopi

420-501: A succession struggle in 635, the king awarded Jin with strategically valuable territory near Chengzhou. Duke Wen then used his growing power to coordinate a military response with Qi, Qin, and Song against Chu, which had begun encroaching northward after the death of Duke Huán of Qi. With a decisive Chu loss at the Battle of Chengpu in 632, Duke Wen's loyalty to the Zhou king was rewarded at an interstate conference when King Xīang awarded him

490-456: Is a genus of about 250 species of deciduous and evergreen trees, shrubs and climbers in the family Rutaceae that are native to warm temperate and subtropical areas worldwide. It is the type genus of the tribe Zanthoxyleae in the subfamily Rutoideae . Several of the species have yellow heartwood , to which their generic name alludes. Several species are cultivated for their use as spices, notably including Sichuan pepper . Plants in

560-573: Is a bioactive component of plants from the genus Zanthoxylum , including the Sichuan pepper. Zanthoxylum species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including the engrailed ( Ectropis crepuscularia ). The following is a list of species accepted by Plants of the World Online as of August 2020: The genus Fagara has been sunk into Zanthoxylum , but as of September 2021 , no name seemed to have been provided for

630-403: Is derived from Ancient Greek words ξανθός ( xanthos ), meaning 'yellow', and ξύλον ( xylon ), meaning 'wood'. It is technically misspelled, as the z should be x , but botanical nomenclature does not allow for spelling corrections. It refers to a yellow dye made from the roots of some species. The first species that Linnaeus described was Zanthoxylum trifoliatum , now regarded as

700-719: Is home to a large coal field, which covers 1,600 square kilometres (620 sq mi) of the county's area. Said coal field is estimated to have 15.3 billion tons of coal in reserve. Xiangning also has a number of tourist sights, such as the Xiangning Thousand Buddha Cave  [ zh ] , Yunqiu Mountain ( simplified Chinese : 云丘山 ; traditional Chinese : 雲丘山 ), and a number of temples and pagodas. Major agricultural products from Xiangning include Zanthoxylum , apples, walnuts, Chinese yams, Elaeagnus mollis  [ zh ] , and wine. National Highway 209 and National Highway 309 both run through

770-595: Is not possible to know if what is meant is the Etiquette and Ceremonial (known then as the Book of Rites ) or just the concept of ritual in general. On the other hand, the existence of the Book of Changes is well-attested in the Zuozhuan , as multiple characters use it for divination and accurately quote the received text. Sima Qian claims that it was Confucius who, towards the close of

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840-454: Is often used to accompany fish soups such as chueo-tang , whereas the plant's seeds are separated and used to make oil, and the oil is used as a medicine. The Korean sancho is made from Zanthoxylum schinifolium , which is slightly less bitter than chopi . In Korean cuisine , chopi is often used to accompany fish soups such as chueo-tang . The fruit of Zanthoxylum armatum and Zanthoxylum bungeanum species

910-514: Is said is told from the perspective of other states, such as Duke Ai of Lu trying to enlist Yue's help in a coup against the Three Huan. Sima Qian notes that Goujian reigned on until his death, and that afterwards his descendants—for whom no biographical information is given—continued to rule for six generations before the state was finally absorbed into Chu during the Warring States period . After

980-519: Is used to make Sichuan pepper by grinding the husks that surround the berries. In the states of Maharashtra , Karnataka , and Goa in Western India, the dried berries of Zanthoxylum rhetsa are known as teppal or tirphal in Marathi are added to foods such as legumes and fish. The name in both languages means 'three fruits' or 'three pods'. Because the trees bear fruit during the monsoon season,

1050-543: The Zuozhuan and Analects frequently quote the Book of Poetry and Book of Documents . On the other hand, the Zuozhuan depicts some characters actually composing poems that would later be included in the received text of the Book of Poetry . In the Analects there are frequent references to "The Rites", but as Classical Chinese does not employ punctuation or any markup to distinguish book titles from regular nouns it

1120-521: The Five Hegemons . He was succeeded by his son King Fuchai of Wu , who nearly destroyed the Yue state, imprisoning King Goujian of Yue . Subsequently, Fuchai defeated Qi and extended Wu influence into central China. In 499, the philosopher Confucius was made acting prime minister of Lu. He is traditionally (if improbably) considered the author or editor of the Spring and Autumn annals , from which much of

1190-485: The Guanzhong region, held nominal power, but had real control over only a small royal demesne centered on Luoyi. During the early part of the Zhou dynasty period, royal relatives and generals had been given control over fiefdoms in an effort to maintain Zhou authority over vast territory. As the power of the Zhou kings waned, these fiefdoms became increasingly independent states . The most important states (known later as

1260-482: The bà role had become outdated; the four major states had each acquired their own spheres of control and the notion of protecting Zhou territory had become less cogent as the control over (and the resulting cultural assimilation of) non-Zhou peoples, as well as Chu's control of some Zhou areas, further blurred an already vague distinction between Zhou and non-Zhou. In addition, new aristocratic houses were founded with loyalties to powerful states, rather than directly to

1330-547: The Chu forces advanced to just outside the royal capital of Chengzhou, upon which King Zhuang sent a messenger to inquire into the heft and bulk of the Nine Cauldrons – the symbols of royal ritual authority – implying he might soon arrange to have them moved to his own capital. In the end the Zhou capital was spared, and Chu shifted focus to harassing the nearby state of Zheng. The once-hegemon state of Jin intervened to rescue Zheng from

1400-496: The Chu invaders but were resolutely defeated, which marks the ascension of Chu as the dominant state of the time. Despite his de facto hegemony, King Zhuang's self-proclaimed title of "king" was never recognized by the Zhou states. In the Spring and Autumn Annals he is defiantly referred to as Zi ( 子 , ruler; unratified lord), even at a time when he dominated most of south China. Later historians however always include him as one of

1470-532: The Five Hegemons. In addition to interstate conflict, internal conflicts between state leaders and local aristocrats also occurred. Eventually the dukes of Lu, Jin, Zheng, Wey and Qi would all become figureheads to powerful aristocratic families. In the case of Jin, the shift happened in 588 when the army was split into six independent divisions, each dominated by a separate noble family: Zhi (智), Zhao (趙), Han (韓), Wei (魏), Fan (范), and Zhonghang (中行). The heads of

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1540-534: The King of Zhou, not all sources list him as one of the Five Hegemons. When Duke Wen of Jin came to power in 636 after extensive peregrinations in exile, he capitalized on the reforms of his father, Duke Xian (r. 676–651), who had centralized the state, killed off relatives who might threaten his authority, conquered sixteen smaller states, and even absorbed some Rong and Di peoples to make Jin much more powerful than it had been previously. When he assisted King Xiang in

1610-555: The Spring and Autumn period, edited the received versions of the Book of Poetry , Book of Documents , and Book of Rites ; wrote the "Ten Wings" commentary on the Book of Changes ; and wrote the entirety of the Spring and Autumn Annals . This was long the predominant opinion in China, but modern scholarship considers it unlikely that all five classics could be the product of one man. The transmitted versions of these works all derive from

1680-545: The Western Zhou had concerned itself with politics, the ancestral temples, and legitimacy, in the Eastern Zhou politics came to the fore. Titles which had previously reflected lineage seniority took on purely political meanings. At the top of the bunch were Gong ( 公 ) and Hou ( 侯 ), favoured lineages of old with generally larger territories and greater resources and prestige at their disposal. The majority of rulers were of

1750-546: The Wu capital. Fuchai rushed back but was besieged and died when the city fell in 473. Yue then concentrated on weaker neighbouring states, rather than the great powers to the north. With help from Wu's enemy Chu, Yue was able to be victorious after several decades of conflict. King Goujian destroyed and annexed Wu in 473, after which he was recognized as hegemon. The Zuozhuan , Guoyu , and Shiji provide almost no information about Goujian's subsequent reign or policies. What little

1820-675: The Zhou capital was sacked by the Marquess of Shen and the Quanrong barbarians , the Zhou moved the capital east from the now desolated Zongzhou in Haojing near modern Xi'an to Wangcheng in the Yellow River Valley. The Zhou royalty was then closer to its main supporters, particularly Jin, and Zheng ; the Zhou royal family had much weaker authority and relied on lords from these vassal states for protection, especially during their flight to

1890-422: The Zhou kings, though this process slowed down by the end of the seventh century, possibly because territory available for expansion had been largely exhausted. The Zhou kings had also lost much of their prestige so that, when Duke Dao of Jin (r. 572–558) was recognized as bà , it carried much less meaning than it had before. In 506, King Helü ascended the throne of Wu. With the help of Wu Zixu and Sun Tzu ,

1960-399: The advice of his staff, he attacked the much larger state of Chu. The Song forces were defeated at the battle of Hong ( 泓 ) in 638, and the duke himself died in the following year from an injury sustained in the battle. After Xiang's death his successors adopted a more modest foreign policy, better suited to the country's small size. As Duke Xiang was never officially recognized as hegemon by

2030-543: The author of The Art of War , he launched major offensives against the state of Chu. They prevailed in five battles, one of which was the Battle of Boju , and conquered the capital Ying. However, Chu managed to ask the state of Qin for help, and after being defeated by Qin, the vanguard general of Wu troops, Fugai, a younger brother of Helü, led a rebellion. After beating Fugai, Helü was forced to leave Chu. Fugai later retired to Chu and settled there. King Helü died during an invasion of Yue in 496. Some sources list him as one of

2100-432: The berries are associated with the concurrent Krishna Janmashtami festival. The fresh fruits are parrot green in color and are used as a flavouring agent in many curries made with a paste of coconut, chilis, and other spices. When dried, the flesh of the fruit hardens, turns a brownish black color and opens up to show the black seeds within. The seeds are discarded and the dried fruit is stored in containers for use around

2170-799: The county's lowest point is along the banks of the Yellow River , at 385.1 metres (1,263 ft) in altitude. 38.2% of the county is forested. Xiangning County is divided into five towns and five townships . These are then divided into 182 village-level divisions . The county's five towns are Changning  [ zh ] , Guanghua  [ zh ] , Taitou  [ zh ] , Guantou  [ zh ] , and Xibo  [ zh ] . The county's five townships are Shuanghe Township  [ zh ] , Guanwangmiao Township  [ zh ] , Weizhuang Township  [ zh ] , Xijiaokou Township  [ zh ] , and Zaoling Township  [ zh ] . The county

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2240-557: The county, as well as three provincial highways. 35°58′13″N 110°50′49″E  /  35.97028°N 110.84694°E  / 35.97028; 110.84694 Spring and Autumn period The Spring and Autumn period ( c.  770  – c.  481 BCE ) was a period in Chinese history corresponding roughly to the first half of the Eastern Zhou ( c.  771  – 256 BCE), characterized by

2310-419: The disparity in available resources. Alongside this development, there was precedent of Zhou kings "upgrading" noble ranks as a reward for service to the throne, giving the recipients a bit more diplomatic prestige without costing the royal house any land. During the decline of the royal house, although real power was wrested from their grasp, their divine legitimacy was not brought into question, and even with

2380-514: The duke and two senior ministers each in charge of five; military functions were also united with civil ones. These and related reforms provided the state, already powerful from control of trade crossroads, with a greater ability to mobilize resources than the more loosely organized states. By 667, Qi had clearly shown its economic and military predominance, and Duke Huan assembled the leaders of Lu , Song , Chen , and Zheng , who elected him as their leader. Soon after, King Hui of Zhou conferred

2450-451: The eastern capital. In Chengzhou, Prince Yijiu was crowned by his supporters as King Ping . However, with the Zhou domain greatly reduced to Chengzhou and nearby areas, the court could no longer support the six army groups it had in the past; Zhou kings had to request help from powerful vassal states for protection from raids and for resolution of internal power struggles. The Zhou court would never regain its original authority; instead, it

2520-421: The elite culture, aiming at upward social mobility, typically through the vector of officialdom. One individual well attested in the process of fixing the ranks of rulers into a coherent scheme was Zichan of Zheng , who both submitted a memorial to the king of Chu informing him of the proposed new system in 538 BCE, and argued at a 529 BCE interstate conference that tributes should be graded based on rank, given

2590-473: The encounter the duke felt he was not treated with the respect and etiquette which would have been appropriate, given that Zheng was now the chief protector of the capital. In 715, Zheng also became involved in a border dispute with Lu regarding the Fields of Xu. The fields had been put in the care of Lu by the king for the exclusive purpose of producing royal sacrifices for the sacred Mount Tai . For Zheng to regard

2660-507: The era, this partitioning left seven major states in the Zhou world: the three fragments of Jin, the three remaining great powers of Qin, Chu and Qi, and the weaker state of Yan ( 燕 ) near modern Beijing. The partition of Jin, along with the Usurpation of Qi by Tian , marks the beginning of the Warring States period . Ancient sources such as the Zuo Zhuan and the eponymous Chunqiu record

2730-527: The fief of the grandfather of the disinherited crown prince Yijiu —destroyed the Western Zhou capital at Haojing , killing King You and establishing Yijiu as king at the eastern capital Luoyi . The event ushered in the Eastern Zhou dynasty, which is divided into the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States periods. During the Spring and Autumn period, China's feudal fengjian system became largely irrelevant. The Zhou court, having lost its homeland in

2800-414: The fields as just any other piece of land was an insult to the court. By 707, relations had soured enough that the king launched a punitive expedition against Zheng. The duke counterattacked and raided Zhou territory, defeating the royal forces in the Battle of Xuge and injuring the king himself. Zheng was the first vassal to openly defy the king, kicking off the centuries of warfare without respect for

2870-499: The first eleven years of his hegemony, Duke Huan intervened in a power struggle in Lu; protected Yan from encroaching Western Rong nomads; drove off Northern Di nomads after their invasions of Wey and Xing , providing the people with provisions and protective garrison units; and led an alliance of eight states to conquer Cai and thereby block the northward expansion of Chu . At his death in 643, five of Duke Huan's sons contended for

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2940-545: The first half of the dynasty left in its wake hundreds of autonomous polities varying drastically in size and resources, nominally connected by bonds of cultural and ritual affiliation increasingly attenuated by the passage of time. Whole lineage groups moved around under socioeconomic stress, border groups not associated with the Zhou culture gained in power and sophistication, and the geopolitical situation demanded increased contact and communication. Under this new regime, an emergent systematization of noble ranks took root. Where

3010-400: The genus Zanthoxylum are typically dioecious shrubs, trees or woody climbers armed with trichomes . The leaves are arranged alternately and are usually pinnate or trifoliate . The flowers are usually arranged in panicles and usually function as male or female flowers with four sepals and four petals, the sepals remaining attached to the fruit. Male flowers have four stamens opposite

3080-424: The gradual erosion of royal power as local lords nominally subject to the Zhou exercised increasing political autonomy. The period's name derives from the Spring and Autumn Annals , a chronicle of the state of Lu between 722 and 481 BCE, which tradition associates with Confucius (551–479 BCE). During this period, local polities negotiated their own alliances, waged wars against one another, up to defying

3150-449: The great age of Jin power, the Jin rulers began to lose authority over their ministerial lineages. A full-scale civil war between 497 and 453 ended with the elimination of most noble lines; the remaining aristocratic families divided Jin into three successor states: Han , Wei , and Zhao . This is the last event recorded in the Zuozhuan . With the absorption of most of the smaller states in

3220-725: The hegemon was obligated to protect both the weaker Zhou states and the Zhou royalty from the intruding non-Zhou peoples: the Northern Di , the Southern Man , the Eastern Yi , and the Western Rong . This political framework retained the fēngjiàn power structure, though interstate and intrastate conflict often led to declining regard for clan customs , respect for the Ji family, and solidarity with other Zhou peoples. The king's prestige legitimized

3290-530: The information for this period is drawn. After only two years he was forced to resign and spent many years wandering between different states before returning to Lu. After returning to Lu he did not resume a political career, preferring to teach. Tradition holds that it was in this time he edited or wrote the Five Classics , including the Spring and Autumn Annals . In 482, King Fuchai of Wu held an interstate conference to solidify his power base, but Yue captured

3360-496: The king reduced to something of a figurehead, his prestige remained supreme as Heaven's eldest son. Archaeologically excavated primary sources and received literature agree to a high degree of systematization and stability in noble titles during the Eastern Zhou, indicating an actual historical process. A 2007 survey of bronze inscriptions from 31 states found only eight polities whose rulers used varying titles of nobility to describe themselves. Zanthoxylum Zanthoxylum

3430-488: The king's court in Luoyi . The gradual Partition of Jin , one of the most powerful states, is generally considered to mark the end of the Spring and Autumn period and the beginning of the Warring States period . This periodization dates back to late Western Han ( c.  48 BCE  – c.  9 CE ). In 771 BCE, a Quanrong invasion in coalition with the states of Zeng and Shen —the latter polity being

3500-434: The last third of the Spring and Autumn period. Their first documented interaction with the Spring and Autumn states was in 584, when a Wu force attacked the small border state of Tan ( 郯 ) causing some alarm in the various Chinese courts. Jin was quick to dispatch an ambassador to the court of the Wu king, Shoumeng . Jin promised to supply Wu with modern military technology and training in exchange for an alliance against Chu,

3570-446: The middling but tiered grades Bo ( 伯 ) and Zi ( 子 ). The rulers of two polities maintained the title Nan ( 男 ). A 2012 survey found no difference in grade between Gong and Hou , or between Zi and Nan . Meanwhile, a new class of lower-tier aristocrats formed: the Shi ( 士 ), gentlemen too distantly related to the great houses to be born into a life of wielding power, but still part of

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3640-497: The military leaders of the states, and helped mobilize collective defense of Zhou territory against " barbarians ". Over the next two centuries, the four most powerful states— Qin , Jin , Qi and Chu —struggled for power. These multi-city states often used the pretext of aid and protection to intervene and gain suzerainty over the smaller states. During this rapid expansion, interstate relations alternated between low-level warfare and complex diplomacy. Duke Yin of Lu ascended

3710-513: The old traditions which would characterize the period. The display of Zheng's martial strength was effective until succession problems after Zhuang's death in 701 weakened the state. In 692, there was a failed assassination attempt against King Zhuang , orchestrated by elements at court. The first hegemon was Duke Huan of Qi (r. 685–643). With the help of his prime minister, Guan Zhong , Duke Huan reformed Qi to centralize its power structure. The state consisted of 15 " townships " ( 縣 ) with

3780-422: The periphery, had power and opportunity to expand outward. A total of 148 states are mentioned in the chronicles for this period, 128 of which were absorbed by the four largest states by the end of the period. Shortly after the royal court's move to Chengzhou, a hierarchical alliance system arose where the Zhou king would give the title of hegemon ( 霸 ) to the leader of the state with the most powerful military;

3850-501: The rulers was often challenged in civil wars by various royal family members in Qin and Chu. Once all these powerful rulers had firmly established themselves within their respective dominions, the bloodshed focused more fully on interstate conflict in the Warring States period, which began in 403 BCE when the three remaining elite families in Jin—Zhao, Wei, and Han—partitioned the state. After

3920-405: The sepals. Female flowers have up to five, more or less free carpels with the styles free or sometimes fused near the tip. The fruit is usually of up to four follicles fused at the base, each containing a single seed almost as large as the follicle. The genus Zanthoxylum was first formally described in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus in the first volume of Species Plantarum . The generic name

3990-451: The six families were conferred the titles of viscounts and made ministers, each heading one of the six departments of Zhou dynasty government. From this point on, historians refer to "The Six Ministers" as the true power brokers of Jin. The same happened to Lu in 562, when the Three Huan divided the army into three parts and established their own separate spheres of influence. The heads of

4060-456: The state was considered semi-barbarian and its rulers—beginning with King Wu in 704 BCE—proclaimed themselves kings in their own right. Chu intrusion into Zhou territory was checked several times by the other states, particularly in the major battles of Chengpu (632 BCE), Bi (595 BCE) and Yanling (575 BCE), which restored the states of Chen and Cai . Some version of the Five Classics existed in Spring and Autumn period, as characters in

4130-449: The three families were always among the department heads of Lu. Wu was a state in modern Jiangsu outside the Zhou cultural sphere, considered "barbarian", where the inhabitants sported short hair and tattoos and spoke an unintelligible language. Although its ruling house claimed to be a senior lineage in the Ji ancestral temple, Wu did not participate in the politics and wars of China until

4200-533: The throne , badly weakening the state so that it was no longer regarded as the hegemon. For nearly ten years, no ruler held the title. Duke Xiang of Song attempted to claim the hegemony in the wake of Qi's decline, perhaps driven by a desire to restore the Shang dynasty from which Song had descended. He hosted peace conferences in the same style as Qi had done, and conducted aggressive military campaigns against his rivals. Duke Xiang's ambitions met their end when, against

4270-424: The throne in 722. From this year on, the state of Lu kept an official chronicle, the Spring and Autumn Annals , which along with its commentaries is the standard source for the Spring and Autumn period. Corresponding chronicles are known to have existed in other states as well, but all but the Lu chronicle have been lost . In 717, Duke Zhuang of Zheng went to the capital for an audience with King Huan . During

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4340-492: The title of bà (hegemon), giving Duke Huan royal authority in military ventures. An important basis for justifying Qi's dominance over the other states was presented in the slogan 'Revere the King, Expel the Barbarians' ( 尊王攘夷 ; zun wang rang yi ). The role of subsequent hegemons would also be framed in this way: as the primary defender and supporter of nominal Zhou authority and the existing order. Using this authority, during

4410-484: The title of bà . After the death of Duke Wen in 628, a growing tension manifested in interstate violence that turned smaller states, particularly those at the border between Jin and Chu, into sites of constant warfare; Qi and Qin also engaged in numerous interstate skirmishes with Jin or its allies to boost their own power. Duke Mu of Qin ascended the throne in 659 and forged an alliance with Jin by marrying his daughter to Duke Wen. In 624, he established hegemony over

4480-430: The twelve vassals) came together in regular conferences where they decided important matters, such as military expeditions against foreign groups or against offending nobles. During these conferences one vassal ruler was sometimes declared hegemon . As the era continued, larger and more powerful states annexed or claimed suzerainty over smaller ones. By the 6th century BCE, most small states had disappeared and just

4550-452: The various diplomatic activities, such as court visits paid by one ruler to another ( 朝 ; cháo ), meetings of officials or nobles of different states ( 會 ; 会 ; huì ), missions of friendly inquiries sent by the ruler of one state to another ( 聘 ; pìn ), emissaries sent from one state to another ( 使 ; shǐ ), and hunting parties attended by representatives of different states ( 狩 ; shou ). Because of Chu's non-Zhou origin,

4620-408: The versions edited by Liu Xin in the century following Sima Qian. While many philosophers such as Lao Tzu and Sun Tzu were active in the Spring and Autumn period, their ideas were probably not put into writing until the following Warring States period. While the aristocracy of the Western Zhou frequently interacted via the medium of the royal court, the collapse of central power at the end of

4690-515: The western Rong barbarians and became the most powerful lord of the time. However he did not chair any alliance with other states nor was he officially recognized as hegemon by the king. Therefore, not all sources accept him as one of the Five Hegemons. King Zhuang of Chu expanded the borders of Chu well north of the Yangtze River, threatening the Central States in modern Henan . At one point

4760-1038: The year. Mostly used in fish preparations and a few vegetarian dishes, with coconut masala, this spice has a very strong woody aroma and is discarded at the time of eating the curry. Plants in the genus Zanthoxylum contain the lignan sesamin . Species identified in Nigeria contains several types of alkaloids including benzophenanthridines ( nitidine , dihydronitidine, oxynitidine, fagaronine , dihydro avicine , chelerythrine , dihydrochelerythrine, methoxychelerythrine, norchelerythrine, oxychelerythrine, decarine and fagaridine ), furoquinolines ( dictamine , 8-methoxydictamine, skimmianine , 3-dimethylallyl-4-methoxy-2-quinolone), carbazoles (3-methoxycarbazole, glycozoline ), aporphines ( berberine , tembetarine , magnoflorine , M-methyl- corydine ), canthinones (6-canthinone), acridones (1-hydroxy-3-methoxy-10-methylacridon-9-one, 1-hydroxy-10-methylacridon-9-one, zanthozolin ), and aromatic and aliphatic amides . Hydroxy-alpha sanshool

4830-613: Was changed to Xiangning ( simplified Chinese : 乡宁 ; traditional Chinese : 鄉寧 ), its present-day name. From 1958 to 1961, Xiangning County was briefly merged with neighboring Ji County . The county is located in the Lüliang Mountains of the Loess Plateau , and has a largely hilly terrain with an average elevation of about 900 metres (3,000 ft). The county's highest point is Gaotian Mountain ( Chinese : 高天山 ), which reaches 1,820.5 metres (5,973 ft) in altitude;

4900-532: Was relegated to being merely a figurehead of the regional states and ritual leader of the Ji clan ancestral temple. Though the king retained the Mandate of Heaven , the title held little actual power. With the decline of Zhou power, the Yellow River drainage basin was divided into hundreds of small, autonomous states, most of them consisting of a single city, though a handful of multi-city states, particularly those on

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